Bloody, Bold and Resolute
by Slayzer
Summary: Redone Chapter 2 and adjusted plot  Five years after losing Hope and Lightning is trying forgive herself. She making the most of a weekend with her niece Faith. Hope is in Bodhum as well but with orders that may put him against Light and his friends.
1. Chapter 1

All things Final Fantasy are owned by Square Enix.

Let be begin by saying this first chapter is the Prolog for the story.

I wanted to get right into the action parts of this set like five or six year after the game but I felt I need to explain just how I took Hope from the end of the game to where I'll put him in my story. It is kind of jarring move and it would be more work to revile it in flash backs then just say how it was right off the bat. Anyway this is set one year after the game ended but we'll skip ahead a few years in the next chapter.

Fair waning this will relay on fan Charters to move the plot along. So if you're a purist who can't stand that kind of thing, guilty of it myself, then you may just want to leave now. I'll try and not make them outshine the heroes and I'll see if I can't make them feel like they belong in that world.

Bloody, Bold and Resolute.

-if it sounds like your heard the tile before you may have. It's my favorite line from Macbeth -

By Slayzer

Hope was cold, tired and hungry but that didn't stop him from running. The cold night wind seemed to rip through his paper thin hospital clothing but he paid it no mind. He had to get away but he didn't know anyone in the city of Eden he could ask for help.

After the fall of Cocoon the cities had to be rebuilt on Pulse, something that was done with truly amazing speed. Even if one year after the migration of all of Cocoon's people there were still material shortages but the fact that major cities are now all over Pulse and it was all done without the fal'Cie was an amazing achievement . However a lot of people died in that move, from food shortages and monster attacks. The number dead in those first hellish months far out surpassed the number killed in the Purge. Also the cities were not the only thing Cocoon's people took with them to Pulse, prejudice and hate traveled with them.

The so called heroes who saved Cocoon we're blamed for taking away the safety of the place they supposedly protected. Because of them Cocoon was uninhabitable and everyone had to move to the living hell of Gran Pulse. The resentment was palpable, if they had just died then everyone would have been spared this pain, they wouldn't have had to see their loved one's suffer or die. Surely six lives couldn't out weight the millions who had died after the crystallization of Cocoon?

Budhum was different. The people there suffered under the purge and the Sanctum, to them the l'Cie were heroes. It was in that seaside city that Hope started to rebuild his life with Lightning, Snow and Serah. The newly wed Villiers soon had a baby girl and then it was the five of them under one roof. A house filled with the chaos of life, in a way it was the fun lively family Hope always wanted. Snow went so far as to make Hope the Official Big Brother to his baby girl, Faith Villiers.

A memory from back in Bodhum replayed in Hope's mind, a memory from the time when he was happy.

"What do you mean official big brother?" Hope asked as he looked down at baby Faith in her crib. She was the very image of her mother, if with her dad's nose.

"It's just as it sounds. I want you be a big brother for Faith, you know someone to look out for her and protected her. I trust you with her so I'm asking you to be there for her if I can't." Snow answered as he stood next to Hope looking down at the little life that changed his.

Lightning snorted a short laugh. "If you ask me he's just going to push dipper duty and babysitting off on you."

Snow froze at Lightning's words, he was so transparent sometimes.

"I can't believe you! I was half kidding but your really are trying to pawn your responsibilities off on Hope!" Lightning scolded Snow as she advanced on her brother in law. The commotion woke up Faith and she started to cry.

Hope was the closest one to Faith as Lightning had Snow pinned against the far wall of the living room. So the young man reached down into the crib and gently picked up the crying baby. The little girl soon forget all the noise her auntie and daddy were making and fell asleep in Hope's arms as he rocked her back to sleep.

"Damn how dose he do that? I have to rock Faith for over an hour before she calms down." Snow asked in a hashed voice.

"That because your big goon of a face scares her." Lightning said hotly.

"Faith's big brother…" he said as he looked down at the little ball of life in his arms.

"It was my idea Clare." Serah said walking in from the kitchen. "I just thought it be good for Faith to have someone like Hope as a big brother, like a roll model of sorts and I think it will be good for Hope too." She took Faith from Hope and put her back in her crib.

"Hope your still acting like your our house guest but we want you feel more like your a part of this family." Serah said as she lightly hugged Hope.

"I don't get it?" Hope asked as he broke out of Serah's hug and moved away from her. "How dose saying I'm Faith's big brother make any of us a family. We're not blood and you all don't a have any legal reasonability's to me. The only reason I can think of as why you keep me around is pity or guilt."

"Is that what you think?" Lightning asked, she seemed hurt by what Hope said. Snow and Serah looked upset as well.

Hope couldn't take it and turned to walk away but Snow run up to him and pulled the boy into a hug. "I know I can't be a father to you and I'm not asking you to think of me as one. But I am asking you to be a brother to my daughter. I ask this out of trust and love not pity. I know we're not the most conventional family but we want you to be a part of it but your still holding yourself back from us."

"It's just that I…" Hope began saying something from under Snow's strong arms.

"Hope your way to serious for someone your age. Are you sure your hair's sliver and your not just going prematurely gray? I think you just need to let yourself go and have a good laugh." Snow then pushed Hope to the floor and suddenly pulled Hope's shirt up exposing the boy's belly. "Serah, I'll hold him down and you tickle him."

"Okay!" Serah was seeming all in for this oddball idea her husband came up with.

"Wait, wait, wait,…Ah ha aha ha Ha Ha HA HA!" Hope couldn't form complete words as Serah's fingers danced across his soft sensitive skin. He was soon laughing uncontrollably, unable to break free from Snow or avoid Serah's hands. It was quite possible the most embarrassing thing Hope had ever endured. It was made worse by the fact the Lightning was just standing there watching the whole thing. Even if Hope couldn't say anything his eyes pleaded with Lightning for help.

"Stop it Serah."

Serah stopped tickling Hope at her sister's request. Hope was grateful and tried to say thanks but he couldn't catch his breath.

Lightning sat down next to Serah. "Now you take Hope's left side and I'll tickle his right."

"What!" was all Hope could say before both the Farron sisters started tickling him.

'Why are you doing this to me!' Hope thought as he to busy laughing to ask with words. Then it hit him, I was because they were family. This kind of horsing around was what families do. It was silly but this was the kind of home Hope dreamed of having, a home filled with love and laughter. Maybe it wasn't the best way to have that revelation but after that Hope stopped holding himself back from everyone.

The memory ended and pain tore at Hope again, like someone was digging in fresh cut wounds.

How could he have been so stupid to believe that they were anything like a family? Hope's real parents were dead so he was an orphan and it was only a matter of time until the state came for him.

Lightning and Snow tried to stop them from taking Hope but it's not like they came at them with guns. A nice soft spoken female social worker wasn't a PISCOM patrol. It wasn't something you could just beat up and move on.

The child welfare laws made to deal with the influx of orphaned children were simple and at times harsh. A child without a family need to be looked after and the former l'Cie just weren't good enough to be Hope's guardians. Of course if Lightning, Snow and Serah resisted to much then perhaps the state would have to reevaluate the safety of the home. It may not be such a good thing to leave a baby like Faith with such young parents who disregard a child's safety or an aunt who only enforces the laws when it suites her.

The message was clear as it was subtle. Give us Hope or when we come back will take both him and Faith. Hope didn't want them making such a decision so he made it for them. He would go without complaint if Faith was left with her family. Hope was fifteen and almost a man but Faith was only a little over a year old and need her parents.

It didn't surprise Hope at all when instead of taking him the Bodhum orphanage, where he was close to his friends and new family he was taken too Eden where no one knew him. For the finale touch he was sent to a war orphanage, a place filled with the lost, hurt and angry children of PISCOM solders Hope had most likely killed. You can guess how much love and understanding Hope got there.

It was like hell but made real, a places built on hate and anger all for Hope. Hope's personal belongs never made it to him and the clothes he had on him were ruined in the wash. So he didn't have a single thing to remind himself of his family or his friends, just worn out threadbare hand-me-downs. Hope held on there believing that everyone was out looking for him and if they didn't find him today then surely they find him tomorrow.

Then after eight months of that endless mental and emotional suffering, he lost hope. He just wanted to be out of the place anyway he could. How odd was it then that one night Hope saw the rusty spring in his mattress that poked him every night as his expresses ticket out of this hell.

Several days later Hope woke up in a hospital. Sadden to still be alive but Hope saw that this was his best chance to escape he made a brake for it.

So while now he was free from the hell of an orphanage Hope was lost in a city he didn't know without a Gil to his name. There was no liberation in his freedom, it was just another kind of loss and pain.

Late that night Hope's wanderings took him to the Cocoon Memorial. A lush open field full of four foot tall marble pillars each one with the name of someone who died in the Purge or the relocation to Pulse. Over one year into the project and names where still being added as the number of lost become the number found dead. Already the death toll was in the millions.

With no where else to go Hope walked into the memorial and quickly found what he was looking for.

Bartholomew Estheim

Nora Estheim

Just two pillars marking the names of two people who died. Nora's body was never found but she was listed as killed in the purge. Hope was the one who had to identify his father's body. Bartholomew was listed as killed in the relocation but more then likely he was killed by the Sanctum and that fact was covered up.

Hope crested the carved lettering on the markers as if it was his parents faces. It hurt him that he couldn't bury his mother right. His father he had cremated and then spread his ashes at sea, Hope wanted his father to be part of the world and in some way see how beautiful Pulse really was. The fact that his parents didn't rest next to each other bothered him but Hope believed that they were together in whatever comes after this life.

If he had the strength for it Hope would have cried but he couldn't. After losing so much he couldn't bring himself to care about anything anymore not even if he lived or died. All he knew in that moment was his needs, he was tired and he was hungry. Having no food their was nothing to do about that but he soon fell asleep resting on the memorial markers for his parents. Hope went to sleep not caring if he would wake up.

The next morning Hope found himself both alive and for once in a great many months warm. A coat had been draped over him as he slept. It was long black wool coat and finely made but more then anything it was warm.

"Are you awake now?"

Hope pulled his head up to see a young well dressed man sitting across from him. He looked about his late twenties, longish black hair and dressed in fine dark pants, a white dress shirt, black vest and red tie. It looked like the only thing missing from the man's attire was the coat currently resting over Hope. His skin was kind of peach colored, like he gotten a lot of sun in his youth and while he smiled friendly his eyes were sharp and focused.

"Yeah…" Hope said as he moved to give the man back his coat.

"No, you look cold. Ware it for a while and see if it doesn't warm you up."

The coat was far too big for Hope and the cuffs hung over his hands but it was nice. As nice as this all was Hope was not so naive to believe that this man was just some random strange who loaned his coat out to at kid he happened to run across late one night. "What do you want."

"Right to the point aren't you Mr. Hope Estheim. I guess after everything you've been though believing in the kindness of strangers is a little unlikely."

Hope scowled at the man. "So you know who I am. You seem to have me at a disadvantage Mr. … ?"

The man's smile lit up as if Hope had said something funny. "Don't feel bad, I keep everyone at a disadvantage. My name is Rasim Credence and I was once your enemy."

Hope paused for a moment, this was all so absurd, a man walks up to you and introduces himself as your enemy.

"It's the truth. I was an intelligences officer with the Sanctum. After the fall of Cocoon many of my superiors where, well, executed and now I'm kind of the big man in charge. So it was nothing for me to have you taken from your home in Bodhum and making sure you got 'lost' in the system. I have to say that Clare Farron woman is persistent if nothing else. For six months she spent everyday looking for you. Personally searching every orphanage she could find and fallowing every false lead I threw at her. I was truly surprised by how many strings she managed to pull but then again I'm the guy pulling the rope. I can keep you hidden for another eight months if I wanted to."

Rasim reach behind him and pulled out something that he was hiding, a Katana in a black sheath. He set the blade across his lap as he talked with Hope. He wasn't threatening Hope with it but he just wanted to make sure Hope knew it was there.

"Everything that's happened to me was your doing, why?"

"I wanted to push you until you snapped. I didn't think you try and take your own life. I mean if that place was so bad why not just bust yourself out of it? I can't believe that some low wage social workers could stop you."

"I lost my l'Cie powers when I lost my brand. I'm just a normal fifteen year old human nothing more and nothing less."

"Bullshit." Rasim cussed. "You where remade by the fal'Cie as a human weapon, a tool to be used by them. Brand or no brand what they did to you wasn't something that goes away."

"Your wrong about me."

"No your just a coward. What did you think boy, you just change the world like you did and then you get to go and live in peace? Your not normal and you'll never be normal."

"I am normal!" Hope yelled as he slammed his fist against the marker bearing his father's name.

"No you want to be normal, then you can run away from your guilt. Was it hard in that orphanage? Was it hard knowing the men and women you killed in your little war had families and loved ones? That under those faceless masks that they were human like you, or rather like you use to be? Your not human Hope, you're a beast! A wolf in a world of sheep raised by the fal'Cie! That's why I took you from Bodhum, to remind you that before you where a beaten domesticated dog that you were once a savage wolf! Now stop crying and howl like blood thirsty animal you are!"

Hope didn't say anything and just hugged his father maker as if he could draw some parental love from the lifeless stone. Rasim sighed, he pushed Hope as hard as he could, even to the point when the boy tried suicide. He didn't think he have to go this far but Rasim and an ace up is sleeve.

"Hope, check the left breast pocket of my coat. you'll find a data pad with a video file on it."

Hope felt around in the coat and found the data pad mentioned. "What is it?"

"The video file of the last moments of Bartholomew Estheim's life."

Hope swallowed the bile and rage that rose up in this throat and pushed the play button.

The image of Bartholomew appeared on the screen. The man bond to a chair in a darkly lit room. His face was bloodily and bused but still resilient .

A slender figure in a Calvary uniform walked in front of the camera or a second. Hope couldn't see that person's face but from the body type he gust the Calvary solider was a woman, that was confirmed when she started talking.

"Let's go over this again Estheim, where is your son? What was he and the other l'Cie plotting?"

Bartholomew sighed. "I told you they done nothing wrong. If you would just leave them alone they wouldn't hurt anyone. Besides when they left it's not like they gave me a forwarding address."

The woman struck Bartholomew across the face with a closed fist, his head snapped back and bounced off the chair he was handcuffed to. "I know we've been at this for hours and even I'm sick of it now but there no need to get smart." the woman said as she removed her helmet and letting long blood red tresses of hair spill out.

"You've asked me the same questions again and again but I only have the same answer to give, I don't know where they are. If your going to kill me just do it now and I'll stop wasting your time."

"Sorry I have orders, they say interrogate you until you talk. That fact that your don't have anything to say is irrelevant."

"Then why keep me alive. Clearly your not with the Calvary and I'm starting to think your not with the intelligence bureau."

"Well, I guess I could tell you now that your already wrapped up in this mess. Those l'Cie are the harbingers of Cocoon's doom. The fal'Cie want to offer up all the lives of Cocoon to call back the maker not that I give a damn about the maker but wiping Cocoon from the world works for us."

"You want too destroy Cocoon!" Bartholomew was as shocked by this as all of them were when they learned the truth.

"Naturally we have no intention of being here when it happens but yes we do want to destroy this little egg of a world. Even with a focus you can't trust a l'Cie to do as their told so we have an angle on all of them. We got Serah to use against her sister and lover. Just like we have Dajh to use against his father…"

"And you have me to use against my son, Hope."

"You catch on quick. That's why your alive. Because if little Hope doesn't do as he's told we'll just drag you out in front of him and snuff you. God I can almost see it, poor little boy with no one left in the world to love goes ape shit and then smokes this world. Your just the trigger we pull to set him off."

Watching the video Hope saw the look of defeat on his father's face. It was as if the knowledge of the fate that laid out before his son was crushing him. Hope had never seen his father look so weak.

"You know it's a waste, such a pretty face like yours on such a twisted heart." Bartholomew said with a sly smile.

"What's this, falling for me are we? Has our quality time together really charmed you so much?"

"I just found out I'm a widower so I'm not bond to any marital oaths of fidelity. How about giving a condemned man one last good memory or at lest on last ride?"

The redheaded woman smiled at that and straddled Bartholomew's lap. Her hands pulling his short cut blond hair. "If you want me your going to have to beg for me."

Bartholomew threw his head back and whispered something in a low pained voice.

"What was that…?" She asked as leaned forward her pushing her face right next to his.

Bartholomew then slammed his head forward with a head-butt the broke the woman's nose and sent her to the floor.

"I said, get off my you bitch!" Bartholomew said as he spit on his tormentor for good measure. Then with the kind of inhuman strength a man could only summon up once in his life, he broke the handcuffs that bound him to the chair.

The woman started to rise up but Bartholomew picked the chair up that was holding just a moment a go and broke over the woman's back. In the fighting that followed knocked the camera over and Hope couldn't see the rest of it but he could hear it. A few moments later the sound of a door being kicked in was heard.

"What the hell's going on!" a new voice asked.

"Look out he's escaping!" another yelled followed by the cocking of a gun.

"NO, hold your fire!" that was the redheaded woman talking but her orders weren't headed and a burst of gun fire blared through the cell.

Bartholomew suddenly fell in front of the knocked over camera, his shirt blossoming with red bullet holes.

"Idiots, He's no use to us as a corpse!" The next sound was the woman berating the two soldiers out in the hallway as they looked for a doctor.

Hope looked on as his father took his last painful ragged breathes. "Hope…" He almost jumped but his father wasn't looking to the lens of the camera but at some invisible point in space. He was like a dieing man confessing his sins to the world, never really believing that his words would ever reach his son's ears. "… I'm sorry. I thought we have more time to make things right between us. Live and live as your own man, you've always been good at that." Bartholomew then spoke no more and became still.

The video ended.

Hope was pulled back into the present as he thought of his father. He remember early that year when he had to identify his dad's body. They keep Bartholomew under a cloth and would only let Hope see and touch his hands. Crush damage they said but Bartholomew had been shot to death in a Sanctum holding cell. Even back then Hope suspected that his dad didn't die like they said in the official report but he sweep those doubts aside. Just like they tried to sweep his murder away like just another dirty little secret.

Rasim was silent for a few moments as Hope sorted through that revelation.

"Did you have anything to do with my father's death?"

"Yes." Rasim said calmly as he took up his katana. "That redheaded woman's name is Kira and she worked for me as a spy I had imbedded in the Calvary. It's funny really, she was a spy for me but in realty she was working for some other group. No one in the Sanctum knew what the fal'Cie were plotting but she did not only that but she was part of a group that seemed to support that goal. Now I didn't know about her other connections but I didn't question her when she presented me with your father's lifeless body."

Hope didn't say anything, just started pulling the sleeve's off of the too large coat. First the right sleeve and then the left. On his left arm was a white gauze bandage from his elbow to his wrist. A dark red stain on it form just under Hope's wrist, a stain that grew darker and darker until it dripped fresh blood. Hope put his bleeding left hand on his father's marker and concentrated for a moment.

"I'm going to kill you." Golden light poured out from Hopes body as the stone pillar with his father's name shattered into a hundred little fragments. It was if it was crushed by some invisible force. A soft blue light healed the cut on Hope arm as if it was nothing. Hope smiled at the feeling, not the healing of pain but the use of magic. He had missed it and the power it gave him.

"Thundaga!" the blast of lightning that hit Rasim should have vaporized the bastard. However some odd pale white light seemed to be pushing against Hope's magic, countering the spell before it hit it's target. Rasim stood his ground unscathed, his sword drawn and glowing with some unnatural light.

Rasim held up the hilt of his katana and Hope saw some kind of small machine imbedded in the hilt. It looked like the mana driver that Lightning had on her gloves. "You like it? It's called 'Runic' and it's an anti-magic field generator. It's just a prototype and the cost was about as much as a battleship but it works. Any magic I cut with my katana will be canceled out. That to bad for you, as I know just how much you depend on your magic to fight."

Hope was unimpressed. He undid the gauze on his left arm and wrapped the bloody bandages around his right fist for protection. It was crude but if Hope couldn't use magic on Rasim then he just have to use his fist.

"Fire!"

A small ball of fire sailed at Rasim and out of training he cut it, a deadly mistake. Even a small nothing spell like that took time to cancel out and that was time when he didn't have his sword. Hope closed in on him while he was preoccupied.

Rasim dodge back out of Hopes range but Hope managed to grab his red tie at the last moment. Rasim suddenly found himself unable to breath as Hope strangled the man with his own tie. He fell down with Hope landing on top of him. Hope punched him the second they hit the ground.

'That's definitely not a kid's punch.' Rasim thought as his head started to swim as Hope's heavy punches threatened to send him under.

"Why don't you draw that sword and fight back! Could it be that if you pull that blade free you won't be able to stop my magic? I guess you only have two chooses, you can be blasted by magic or I can beat you to death. I don't care either way, so any way you want to go out is fine with me!"

Hope raised his fist to hit Rasim again but something stopped him, a feeling of sorts. Something was telling him he was in danger but he couldn't see anything around him. Then he looked down to see a small red dot of light on his heart, somewhere out there a sniper had a bead on him.

"Shit." Hope let go of Rasim and got off him, moving very slowly as he did.

Rasim sat up and pulled his tie off as he coughed for air. Then he waved his hands in an all clear single and the red dot of light disappeared from Hope's body. The light was gone but Hope could still feel the sniper out there watching him.

"Your better then I thought Hope. Usually when someone has their biggest strength taken away then cower or rethink their attack. You weren't even fazed by it and saw right through Runic's weakness. That's way I need you Hope. Your strong and you see how this world become. So many of the war criminals from the Purge escaped when everyone relocated to Pulse and no one dose anything about it. Hell, more people support them now believing that they were right to do what they did."

"Your no different then them. Your just a murder hiding behind authority and privilege. Thinking you can do whatever you like to someone because it's for the good of the world."

"Yes but then how was what I did different from what you did? Weren't you also doing whatever you liked with your power and didn't also do it because you believe it was for the good of the world? If there was a differences I don't think it mattered to the people you and I killed."

Hope had slowly come to terms with what he'd done. Those angry children suffering from the lose of their families were that same as he once was and Hope couldn't blame them for feeling that way. Did he fight for Cocoon or was he only fighting to stay alive? Did it even matter what the justifications where if in the end all that was left was a body count?

"That was completely different." but Hope wasn't so sure of that anymore.

"No Hope, it makes you and I more alike then anything. We both had our part building these stone markers all around us. When the order for the Purge came down from up top, I was the one tasked with making the list of everyone in Bodhum to be sent down to Pulse." Rasim undid the collar of his shirt and pulled out two matching marriage pendants. "I may have lived and worked in Eden at that time but I was born and raised in Bodhum. Every name on that list I made was someone from my childhood, a school friend or a family member, people who knew me my whole life. The woman I married was from Bodhum and that week she went back home for the Firework festival to make a special wish."

The look in Rasim's eyes changed, he know long looked like the confident aggressor he was when Hope meet him. He had the look of a man who lost everything believing a lie and all he had left was hate. It was a face Hope knew well for he see it sometimes when he'd look in a mirror. "What did your wife wish for?"

"She wished that our child growing in her belly would have a long and happy life. Her memorial marker is just down that way, just her, they didn't make for our unborn child. I could have saved her, seen that she got lost in the confusion but I believed I was protecting Cocoon. That the good of the world outweighed my own personal loss. Then I found out it was all a lie and everything that happened was planed by the fal'Cie from the start and like a sheep I went along with it. I'm not saying I'm innocent of my part in this or that I'm somehow another victim of it but I can't rest knowing that people knew about it and even supported that butchery. Our new weak willed government by the people isn't going after those war criminals like they should. So I'm making a new department within the intelligence bureau to hunt them down."

"And you want me to be a part of this little unit of yours?"

"Yes, we won't answer to the Sanctum, PISCOM or Core and we'll have free range in all of the unexplored regions of Gran Pulse. The check on this is new department will be it's limited man power so I only want the strongest and most dedicated people I can find."

"What if I say no, what will you do then. You going to throw me back in that Orphanage, maybe your own little cell this time?"

"No. I only did that to reawaken the power that you yourself had been denying. If you don't want to join me then I can have brought back to Bodhum. You can go back there and pretend to fit in but tell me can you really be happy there? Can you just walk away from the power you have? No, you can't and you never will." Rasim held out his had to Hope. "Come with me Hope and I'll teach you the one thing Clare Farron never could."

"The one thing Light could never teach me?"

"Yes, how to live with it. How you can live in a morally gray world with red blood stained hands."

As they talked a new person walked into Hope's field of vision. A woman in a PSICOM uniform with a sniper riffle slung over her shoulder.

'So our mystery guest finally reveals themselves.' Hope thought as the woman pulled her helmet and face mask off.

She was younger the Hope thought, given the fact that she was so tall. Maybe only twenty or her late teens. She had dark skin like Sazh and short cut black hair that was matted to her head with sweat. She was also cute in a harsh wild kind-of-way. She looked just as thrilled to see Hope as he was to see someone in a PISCOM uniform. The air between them grew tense.

Rasim made the introductions. "This is the first person I scouted for my project and someone you'll be working with. Rain Clearwater and as you can tell she a PISCOM sharpshooter."

"Former PISCOM." Rain corrected Rasim. "When my transfer to your Intelligences Bureau goes though I'm going to crack open a bottle of Tequila and burn this damn uniform."

Rain took a few moments sizing Hope up, she wasn't all then impressed. "So we finally meet face to face. This isn't the first time we've meet you know?"

"By your uniform I'm guessing you were at Palumpolum."

A smile crossed Rain's face. Hope was right, she was one of the soldiers hunting him and Lightning at Palumpolum. "Heh, got it the first try didn't you. Yeah, I was two seconds from getting the all clear to put a few extra holes in Pinky's head. I was about to pull the trigger when I was knocked off the side of the building I was on by a guy on a flying motorcycle kicking up icebergs all around him. Next thing I knew I wake up in a field hospital with both my legs broken." she still sounded biter about the whole thing.

"I hope your not waiting on me to apologies. A lot of people got worst then some broken bones in that battle, most of them were just people caught in the crossfire."

"Cheeky little punk isn't he?"

"Easy Rain, Hope hasn't said he'd work with us. He's not branded with a do or die focus so this has to be his choice."

"It's my choice?" Hope asked Rasim as he was skeptical about that.

"Yes but this isn't something you can do halfheartedly. So if you can't committing to this fully then I rather not work with you at all. I'll see that you get back to your so called home in Bodhum if that's what you want."

Hope closed his eyes and thought about it, thought about what he really wanted, all that happened to him and all that he learned just know. "A few nights ago I pulled a rusty steel spring out of my mattress and sharpened it on the floor until it had a sharp edge to it. I then took that sharp edge and opened my wrist up, right on the same spot the damn fal'Cie branded me. You know what I thought about as I waited for death as the life flowed out of me? I realized that those people, Light, Snow all of them…" he paused as he opened his eyes.

"…THEY DON'T MEAN SHIT TO ME ANYMORE!" Hope's voice become almost a beastly howl as he screamed his hate to the world.

There was no more love, kindness, mercy or doubt in Hope anymore. All that was left was a festering dark wounds of rage and hate. Just as Rasim knew there be after he was done with Hope. Rasim had manipulated Hope into a state of mind were the boy felt he had no love for any of his former l'Cie comrades and no choice at all but to fallow him.

"What do you think of Hope now Rain? Didn't that scream of his sound like a wolf howling? Didn't it sound like the cry you made when you came to me like a beaten dog begging for my help?"

Rain ignored Rasim's question and walked over to Hope. She gave the kid a half smile and slapped him on the shoulder. "You may not be such a brat after all. I bet you'll grow up to be one nasty bad ass mother."

"Is that suppose to be some kind of complement?"

"Hey your smiling so you must have taken it as one."

Hope was smiling but it wasn't the lest bit joyful in fact it had hard cold edge to it. Without being told to he just fell in behind Rain and Rasim as they walked off. The day had just begun and the sun was shinning brightly but Hope knew he was going to a dark place. It didn't bother Hope, in fact he welcomed the darkness that was to come. In both his life and in his heart he wanted the darkness. All the good and pure things in his life had been bleed from him.

Yet there was the tiniest pull on Hope's heart to stop and go back to Bodhum. While his time in the orphanage twisted Hope up inside and turned those found memory of his friends into sources of pain there was one thing to pure in him to ever be stained. Faith Villiers, the memory of that new born and innocent life that didn't know anything of Hope or his pain but she would always be at peace when he was near by. Even if they weren't blood she was the last connection Hope could say was true family.

Only time would tell if that little seed of light call Faith could bare fruit in the darkness of Hope's heart.

-end-

I've wanted to do this for so long! Write a fic with a dark, violent and evil son of a bitch Hope.

Also before you say I'm making everything OOC or something like that let me just say this. I don't think everyone would be happy with the Heroes after they 'Saved' Cocoon. Because of them the world of the game was radically altered I can image a rift being formed from that. I kind of see the brave new world after the game as a places filled with a lot of fear and a lot of hate and that just crushing someone like Hope.

So here was the begging of that transformation into the darker Hope I've been wanting to write about for so long. A little bio for you to better grasp the background of the people who will be shaping Hope's life from now on.

Rasim Credence

'I like to keep everyone at a disadvantage' that sums him up nicely. He's the kind of villain who's only a phone call away from having your loved ones tied up in a basement somewhere if you don't do as he says. Rasim like's to play things form behind closed doors. So when the axe fell on his suppers for their part in the Purge he got away because he covered his tracks better.

With the new Sanctum government unable to deal with the problems of moving everyone to Pulse, Rasim steep into the power void and made himself indispensable in overseeing the migration.

However he hasn't forgiven the Purge and his part in his wife's death. He was a true believer in Sanctum but after all he scarified he was rewarded with despair. The only thing that keeps him going is his need to safeguard Cocoon's future on Pulse. This drive makes him act dogmatically and is exactly like how those who started the Purge acted. Rasim knows this but doesn't care, in his mind it will be history that well judge whether or not he was right, not his peers.

In attitude and in form I based Rasim off the main antagonist of Ergo Proxy, Raul Creed. Who is just one of the coolest anime villains I've ever seen. He was both in control and controlling but also shockingly savage and human at times.

Rain Clearwater

Now I just kept building onto Rain until she became a fully realized character.

At first she didn't even have a name but was just some whore Hope paid off coldly for a night of rough sex.

Then she became kind of a lover, and then kind of like a partner in crime for Hope in his new life. Like a twisted mirror that darkly reflects the turns his life has taken.

Now she's his comrade in Hope's quest for revenge and sometimes his lover with a wild and combative sex life.

Rain's black and tall at bit over six feet. Body type she's slender with a nice legs and butt however her size kind of modest sized up top. Her tall frame tend to make her breast seem smaller then they are and she a bit sensitive about that.

I got the center of her personality as I was writing a love seen between her and Hope. I thought she has a tramp stamp tattoo that reads "Cowgirl Up" and that pretty much sized her up right there. She straight forward, easy going and fun loving but get on her bad side and she'll let you have it right there. She like the cool laidback country girls I like. As a side note she's skilled airship pilot and a sketch artiest.

As for her name at one time I thought of her as from Nautilus so the name Rain just hit me then and kind of stuck. Also it opens up the possibly to have damn near everyone mention to Hope that his lover is an older woman named after weather. This of course it has nothing to do with any of his unresolved feeling for another older woman, who is also named after the weather.

On a finale note I don't think I can get someone in this story with the last name "Revival" but if I could that would just gratify my classic rocker soul. What can I say, I inherited up my love of CCR from my parents. I like to think at one time all our parents used to be cool people.


	2. Chapter 2

My first attempt at a rewrite of a chapter I already posted. Major differences are I wanted to remake the my fan character of Talon and bring Vanille in later. Also wanted touch in on Faith's home life.

As always I don't own Final Fantasy XIII and I make no money off the use of it's characters. It's all the property of Square Enix.

Bloody, Bold and Resolute.

By Slayzer.

-Morning the city of Bodhum-

Lightning was asleep or at lest still trying to be. She had a week off from work of her birthday and firework festival and was determined to make the most of it. Nothing was going to make her get out of her warm bed. There was a shift of weight on the bed, a small weight but one that was crawling up toward Lightning. A little body pressed it's up angst Lightning's back and waited to be reconsigned.

Lightning smiled and rolled over to face her cute little intruder. It was her preschool aged niece Faith. The little girl looked so much like her mother but she had Snow's blue eyes and a bit more of his personalty then a girl should have. None the less Faith was Lightning's lovely little niece.

"Good morning Aunt Claire." Faith was the only one Lightning let call her Aunt and Claire.

"Good morning, Sweetheart." Lightning's own little pet name for Faith. Serah and Snow were gone for the weekend and they left Faith at Lightning's. Not that she cared, having Faith around always brightened Lightning's day.

"It's time for pancakes Aunt Claire."

"Is it?"

"Yes, absolutely!" You knew the debate was over when Faith started using the big words she just learned.

Lightning scooped up Faith in her arms and carried the little girl out of the bedroom. "Well then if it's 'absolutely' time for pancakes then we can't wait."

-Kitchen-

Lightning was not half the cook Serah was she could still mange to pull off a rather impressive breakfast. Eggs, bacon, fresh cut fruit and the beforehand demanded pancakes all were plated and ready. Faith had been sent off to dress while Lightning made breakfast.

Lightning was peeling an orange when Faith came into the room wearing her best yellow sundress. "Aunt can you help me with my hair?" Faith's pink hair was down and she had something in her hands to tie it back up.

"Okay sweetheart I'll help just..." and that was when Lightning almost cut her thumb off. Lightning suppressed a swear word and put her bleeding thumb under some running water.

"Where did you...!" The sudden rise in Lightning's voice made Faith take a half step back. Lightning took a deep breath to clam herself. She wasn't mad, she was just unprepared. Lightning tried again, softer this time. "Where did you get that? You know that's not yours."

Clutched tightly in Faith's hands the beautiful teal bandana she wanted Lightning to tie into her hair. It was Hope's bandana, after a year of looking for him all Lightning's searching had yelled was that little piece of cloth. The color had not faded one bit nor that the edges fried. Hell he had that bandana on threw the whole l'Cie incident and it never ripped once.

"Sorry, Aunt Claire. I forgot that you don't like to think about brother."

That always brought a sad smile to Lightning's face, Faith always called Hope brother. Faith even drew Hope into a family picture she made, all of us under the roof of a big boxy house. When Lightning saw that she had to leave to room to compose herself, the guilt had almost overwhelmed her.

Lightning stopped her thumb from bleeding and sat down. Faith was hiding the bandana behind her back like she done something wrong. "You love your big brother Hope don't you Faith."

"Yeah I do very much." Faith said kicking the ground and feeling ashamed. "But, Aunt Claire doesn't like him."

Lightning pulled her niece into a hug. "No sweetheart don't ever think that way about me. I care about Hope so much but it hurts when I think about him."

Faith hugged Lightning back. "It's complicated isn't."

"Yes it's complicated." Lightning took Hope's old bandana and started tying it into Faith's hair. "How do you want it, Like a bow or a ribbon."

"Like a bow. We still going to the Fireworks tonight aren't we?"

"Absolutely." Lightning said a smile returning to her face.

"Good, because I promised brother that we all be there."

"Really was this before or after you let you take his bandana?" Lightning asked tickling Faith a little bit.

"It was after. Brother said he was going to be here this year and he'll be watching the Big Finale. He said it would remind him of that time everyone was together under those bright lights in the darkness, just before you all meet."

Lightning stopped cold for a moment. "When did Hope tell you this."

Faith thought about it for a moment. "Last night..." Lightning's breath caught in her throat. "... in my dream." and she let it out in a sigh.

'Hope's not coming back I know that but...' Lightning finished the bow.

"I wish I had your imagination Faith. I don't have nice dreams about Hope."

"What?" Faith looked up at Lightning blue eyes wide with shock. "Hope's not imaginary, I can really can talk to brother in my dreams. I'd ask him why he doesn't come home and he said it's complicated. I told him 'complicated' is what adults tell when they don't know the answer themselves but like to think they do. Hope also takes me everywhere, we play in the old park hanging high over the city where he grew up. Sometimes we go to Orbae, and watch the windmills and see all the flowers and lost of other cool places you guys saw." Faith stopped and looked like she said something she shouldn't have. "Don't tell anyone I have these dreams. It's a secret between me and brother."

"Then it will be a super special secret for the three of us. Now come on your breakfast is getting cold."

Faith eat breakfast but Lightning barely touched her food. It wasn't possible was it? Faith and Hope having shared dreaming. Then again what with Fal'cie, focus, visions and everything that happened to her why should Lightning be skeptical. No, it was a silly but sweet idea. Most likely Faith had imagined it all from the bits and pieces she overheard about their travels. The idea that Faith and Hope sharing dreams and memories was ridicules. Lightning was still happy that her niece got to know Hope in someway even if it was pretend.

"What else dose Hope tell you."

"Oh, Hope got upset when I told him how tall you've gotten. 'She growing taller just to spite me.' is what he said."

It was true Lightning had a few late in life growth spurts and cracked six feet tall. That brought a smile to Lightning's face and a laugh. It started small but it felt so good she couldn't stop. Lightning could just picture Hope hiding his disappointment at still not being taller then her.

Faith was laughing along with Lightning. "I also once played a trick on brother."

"What did you do?"

"I lied and told him you were getting married."

Lightning stopped laughing.

Now it was hard for Lightning to picture Hope, even a pretend one, reacting to that news. He be happy of course, his good friend was getting married. Who wouldn't be happy?

No, Lightning didn't want that, she wanted to see him getting upset or even jealous. Lightning picture him holder her tightly begging her not to go and kissing her passionately. She'd see him kicking down the church doors and pulling her away from her would-be groom wedding dress and all. Then they elope off to some little town and...

Okay the thought had spun way out of control.

Whatever the flux of emotions was doing to Lightning it was amusing Faith to no end. The little angle just smiled as she could clearly see that her aunt's blushing face had nothing to do with embarrassment.

Lightning brush her hair with her free hand, coughed to clear her throat and failed horrible to regain her normal composer. "So how did Hope react to that little lie." Lightning felt her heart beat speed up even despite her best efforts.

Faith pointed at Lightning with a fork that had a bite of pancake still on it. "It's funny because brother acted just like your acting now."

"What!" Lightning sat up but Faith had already scampered away laughing all the while. "Your lucky we're family or you'd be in big trouble."

Faith knew it was a bluff and that Lightning couldn't stay mad at her for long.

-Across town in the Bodhum Sky Port-

The Raven, a SICOM interceptor that was unofficially docked in an unofficial hanger. The ship and it's crew were members of the Special Intelligence Bureau. The S.I.B as it was called was officially responsible for the keeping and persevering of government secrets and the vanguard of research into old Pluses technology. Their unofficial responsibilities are more varied and violent, key among those was hunting for war criminals. To those hidden ends any means was allowed.

Walking down the narrow hallway of that Ship was one such mean, it's steel covered claws rapping against the floor. It was an experimental Militarized war beast. On time it was a noble Sliver Lobos but humans took it while it was young and changed it to something else. Now it's sliver fur was replaced with a white steel plating with red tiger strips painted on.

However that was not that was done. Beyond just mechanizing it they add a Mana Driver and a cybernetic implant in it's brain. It now had the natural killing instincts of a beast, the powerful body of machine, magic powers and a human level intelligence. When the scientist brought what they mistakenly believe was their creation online and gave it it's first order 'Fuck Off!' was the reply. The prototype then broke himself, as he was not an it, out of the lab.

The program was quickly canceled, classified and disregarded. The runaway prototype still lived on as best as it could. The humans were cruel in not only changing him but also letting him 'understand' just what they had done and what was taken from him. There were no packs that he could run with as he was no longer a wolf.

Then like a miracle he found somethings he thought he never have, a name and a comrade. His name was Talon and he was going to deal with this troublesome human friend.

Talon walked into one of the small bedrooms on the ship. He made his way over to the bed and sat down while the bed's occupant slept on. Talon shook his head, one of the human traits he picked up despite himself. "Hope get up."

The human in the bed cover rolled away from Talon and pulled the blankets tighter around himself.

Talon growled. "Damn it man get up! Do you think we have all day!"

Hope's hand reached out from the covers and patted Talon on the head. Then his face came out from the covers and he smiled tiredly. "Talon you are the world's ugliest alarm clock."

Talon tried to nip at Hope's hand but the human was too quick. Hope paid no attention to Talon's annoyance and checked the other half of his bed. Empty and cold of course but that didn't surprise him, Rain was like that. It bothered Hope and he wasn't going to pretend to understand Rain or why she did anything.

Saying they were lovers was stretching it but they do enjoy having sex together, regularly, like every other night. It was great sex to not that Hope had many other woman he could compare Rain to. They take out all the stress, anger and fear in their lovemaking. Long passionate nights being warped so close around each others hot sweaty bodies that sometimes Hope felt like Rain and him had one pules.

When they finish Rain would catch her breath, smoke a cigaret and then leave to sleep in her own bed. Sometime she kiss Hope goodnight and sometimes she leave so fast that she take his shirt by mistake. Once or twice she even left his room butt naked. Even if Hope was satisfied physically her quick retreat always left him feeling cold. He'd wake up to nothing but a cold bed and the stale smell of her cigarets.

Rain would only say that she can't sleep with someone in her bed. They could fight side by side through blood and pain, make love like soul-mates but Rain couldn't sleep soundly sharing a mattress with Hope.

Talon sighed, another human trait he picked up. "You weren't dreaming about your make believe sister were you."

"Faith is not make believe." Hope patted cold empty space were Rain's hot body had been laying next him several hours ago.

"Right, right I'm sure that's also why you've never told anyone else but me that your have dream about your adopted sister."

Hope pulled himself out of bed and racked a hand though his sliver hair, the long shoulder length locks of hair now resembled naked blades. In some ways the past five years had been good to Hope. He was taller at about 5 feet 10 but still slender. You wouldn't call Hope frail as his body was wrapped around in tight overlapping muscles like a boxer's would be. The jagged red scare on his left wrist still marked him from his suicide attempt.

"Don't you dream Talon?"

"Yes, I once had a dream I was leading my pack across the open planes of Pulse hunting Chocobos. I saw one of the yellow bastards and then I pounce! My claws ripping his flesh and his feathers filling my jaws! It was a very vivid dream."

Hope had just fastened his pants when he stopped and looked at Talon strangely. "Was that the night you attacked my mattress and ate half my of my Chocobo down comforter?"

Talon looked away and his tail swished nervously for a moment. "Maybe..."

Hope chuckled for a moment before he got upset. "God damn it! Rain did it again and stole another one of my shirts."

Talon jumped up onto Hope's bed and laid down. "I'll never get the strange matting and courtship rituals you humans put yourselves through."

"What me and Rain do is more..." Hope struggled to find the right word for what he had with Rain. "... ...recreational then courtship."

Hope finished dressing in black and navy blue colored PISCOM vest and black cargo pants. The Intelligence Bureau didn't use insignia or uniforms, their power was in not being seen and doing whatever liked because of it. Lastly Hope pulled on a dark duster jacket and fastened his gunblade around his waist.

Before leaving and almost as an afterthought Hope grabbed a PISCOM helmet from his closet. Hope spun the helmet in his hand like a basketball for a moment then tucked in under his arm. "Hey Talon it's not all that bad is it? What the Fal'cie did to me and what humans did to you, the things they made us. It hasn't been all that bad right?"

Talon gave a short gruff laugh. "Don't even compare our two situations. You got screwed over way more then I did. But your right it's not that bad."

Hope left the room and Talon followed him behind.

For all the things that happened to Talon. For all the words, ideas and facts human planted in his brain like cancer. There was one word and idea that could redeem all of humanity. Comrade, that word and that idea was something Talon had never known but now it's all that kept him going. Hope wasn't Talon's alpha nor was Talon Hope's pet. They were comrades and that was such a beautiful thing to Talon.

Walking down the hallway of the Raven they came across the last member of their little tiro.

Rain was leaning against the bulkhead with her sniper riffle leaning right next to her. She wore her purple and blue PISCOM jacket that had the sleeves ripped off, black shorts with purple knee pads. Her long black hair was pulled into a single brad. Rain gave Hope one of her dazzling and mischievous smiles before pushing off the wall with her hips.

Rain's hips, her thighs and that sexy ass of her's. God how that woman could just drive Hope wild without even trying. Before she could say anything Hope pulled the collar of her vest open a bit.

"Tsk, Your still wearing my shirt from last night."

Rain leaned in closer and kissed Hope lovingly and then bite his lip as she pulled back. "If your that upset then do something about it."

Hope suddnely pushed Rain against the wall and held her there by pressing his body against her's. "If you think I wouldn't strip you naked right now and fuck in the middle of a hallway then keep teasing me."

"That better not be an empty threat Hope."

"I have ever not gone through with a threat of mine?"

Talon shock his head. "Their at it again. I'd give my right fang for a water hose so I cool you both off." Hope backed off Rain and she shouldered up her riffle.

Rain just rolled her eyes at Talon's remark. "Your just upset because no she-wolf would mate with a can opener like you."

Talon growled back at Rain.

Hope put himself between the two. "Come on. I thought we came here to work."

That was when Rain noticed the helmet in Hope's hand. "Your going to be wearing that on the mission?"

"What about it?"

"Nothing it just you never wore a helmet before. I mean everyone who sees your face knows who you are and a lot of them hate you. Now we're in Bodhum where your known and well liked but your hiding your face."

"If they saw me things would get complicated."

"So you say." Rain said with a shrug.

The three made for the exit ramp and just as they were about to head out Hope stop. "By the way I'm adjusting the time table for tonight's mission. We'll being after the fireworks have ended."

Rain's looked at Hope in confusion. "After? I thought the explosions would make for good cover. Don't tell me you want to make a wish on them?"

"More like I'm keeping a promise."

Hope thought about the dream he had he with Faith. How he let it slip that he was in Bodhum his year. He thought about how upset Faith got when he told her he wasn't here to visit. The only way he could get her to stop crying was he had to Promise to watch the fireworks tonight because everyone was going to be there. Faith has said that she, Lightning, Snow, Serah, Sazh, Dajh, would all be there.

Even if it was just a dream Faith was real to him and his sister so Hope kept every promise he made her.

Rain sighed. "A promise? Hope your really such a helpless romantic sometimes."

"Rain once we get off this Airship don't call me by my name..." Hope fixed the helmet and mask over his head and drew his gunblade, Ultimecia. The black steel and blood red edge gunblade unfolded like the wing of a demon.

"... call me by my codename, Raiden."

Waiting outside were several hastily commandeered unites of the Bodhum Guardian Corp. Standing at the forefront was General Amodar the commander of the Bodhum forces. Hope remember Amodar as Lightning's boss and knew he was a good and capable man. The uneasy written on the man's face was could be felt in the air. After all the last time government agents showed like Hope and his crew did it was to start the Purge. The people of Bodhum would never forget that.

Hope gave Amodar a proper salute that was curtly returned. As they left to finales tonight's operation Hope looked up to the clear blue sky. 'Everyone I hope you can forgive me but I've come back to Bodhum to do something wicked.'

-end-

Okay my first major rewrite of a story. Mostly I wanted to redo Talon as he was looking to much like Noel. (So I thought I make him more like RedXIII. Well there's more to it then that but no RedXIII's one of my favorite FF heroes.)

I wrote Hope a little younger here, more caught between adolescence and adulthood and bit more conflicted. We get to see Hope's badassness next chapter when the shooting starts. I also wanted Hope and Faith to have an almost spiritual bond and closeness then contrast their lives. Faith living happily with her family while Hope is lost and trying to find out just what he has with Rain.

Hope Estheim.

Hope has grown up to be the product of the two people who shaped his life, Lightning and Rasim. Needing to get stronger Rasim trained Hope in Swordsmanship and combat tactics. However this was not a nurturing relationship. It was more like a black smith making a sword, all heat and hammer blows. At the end of it Hope did become far stronger then he ever dare dream. Maybe it was out of some lingering admiration or just that she is still Hope's definition of what strong is but his new battle style is every much like Lightning's. His gunblade is the new hi-speck model Ultimecia.

Over the years he's gotten a nasty reputation in the Intelligence Bureau for not taking prisoners. On the other hand Hope has keep to a near zero collateral damage rate on all his missions. The fact the Hope never let's anyone take a risk he wasn't willing to take and his lead from the front command has given him an untouchable charisma and an aura of fear.

Talon.

I always thought the militarized enemies were cool and I wanted to give one a story. So I thought just how far could they take militarizing a living being. Could they make it smarter as well as stronger? Could they give it a human leave of awareness and intelligence?

That's Talon and the first thing he did with his new found reason was to disobey the people who made him a monstrosity.

Talon like Hope feels alienated form his kind by the alterations done to him. As such he and had Hope have an understanding that made them fast friends. As such Talon is not Hope's pet but comrade. He has some unique opinion about humanity and other topics but he's not as leave headed as he lets on. Talon is rather young and small of a Sliver Lobs as he's not quite a adult. So he has playful and rambunctious side that a cub would have that comes out now and then.


End file.
